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Tuesday, 22 November 2022

The viral outbreak + the World Cup were topics du jour on the airwaves last night

COP27 and climate change barely got a look-in on the airwaves last night for the first time in what seems like a lifetime: Replacing it were RSV, the World Cup and yesterday’s earthquake in the Mediterranean.

This story went viral on the airwaves: Everyone and their mothers were talking about the respiratory virus currently infecting kids across the country after Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffer’s presser yesterday. The RSV (“respiratory syncytial virus”) has infected around 1.6k people since October, Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi said (watch, runtime: 1:48), urging people to wear mask to curb its spread (watch, runtime: 0:33). Abdel Ghaffar made an appearance on El Hekaya (watch, runtime: 10:00) to assuage public concerns, telling show host Amr Adib that health authorities are used to dealing with RSV. There’s no specific medication or vaccine for the RSV globally, given that it’s a mild infection despite it being highly-transmissive, he added. The virus and the minister’s press conference also received coverage from Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 10:16) and Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 11:37)

Background: The spread of the RSV has raised concerns among parents due to its being highly contagious and disproportionately affecting children. Its symptoms are similar to flu, including higher body temperatures and a sore throat.

The footie-less coverage of the World Cup continues: Egypt’s talking heads continued to give Qatar’s hosting of the tournament glowing reviews yesterday, while El Hadidi dedicated time to praising Fifa’s decision yesterday to ban players from wearing rainbow armbands in solidarity with LGBTQ people. “Implementing such a decision comes under respect to the hosting country’s Arab and Islamic traditions,” El Hadidi said, describing it as “the right call” (watch, runtime: 3:22). Meanwhile, Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 6:53) dedicated more airtime to covering the handshake between El Sisi and Erdogan on Sunday, and Al Hayah Al Youm took note of El Sisi’s phone call to Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to congratulate the latter on a successful opening ceremony (watch, runtime: 2:08).

Yesterday’s earthquake got most of them talking: El Hekaya, (watch, runtime: 5:18), Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 5:45) and Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 4:47).

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